Il-Kennies tal-Ġenna is a new play that shines light on Valletta’s hidden spectacle and intricate characters. Jo Caruana interviews scriptwriter Tony Cassar Darien to discover the story’s journey from page to stage.
New writing is a clear focus for theatre practitioners everywhere. While the classics will always hold their own, new scripts provide exciting opportunities for directors and companies to put their stamps on something unique. Now, Pjazza Teatru Rjal is following suit by presenting a new play by Tony Cassar Darien.
The show will kick-start the theatre’s 2014/2015 drama season.
Cassar Darien’s Il-Kennies tal-Ġenna, which translates as The Sweeper of Heaven, started its life as a novel of the same name. It tells the extraordinary story of Ġanni Borg who, following an agreement with the Valletta local council, sweeps the streets of the capital at night to ensure they will be clean by morning.
“But Ġanni’s life wasn’t always spent this way,” says Cassar Darien, who got excellent feedback when the book was published in 2012. “He used to be a prominent and respected member of the banking profession.
“However, his innate, irres-istible honesty stopped him from becoming part of the system to which the pampered Maltese have become accustomed.
“So, as he sweeps the streets, our protagonist is engulfed by the silence of his working nights, and forced to accept how the capital has fallen from grace in the same way that he did. The realisation creates quite a bond between the city and the sweeper,” continues the author.
It is this beautiful comparison that has helped to turn the story from a book into an exciting theatrical project. Aside from this central storyline, the script is all-enveloped by Valletta’s distinct character – the churches, monuments, palaces and, of course, the people. And now it is being directed by Josette Ciappara.
Cassar Darien and Ciappara go back a long way, to the days when he was the principal of the then-Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art (MTADA – now the National Academy of Dramatic Art) and she was his assistant.
The staging involves large projections of never-before-seen footage of Valletta
“Josette and I also produced and presented a radio comedy together throughout the 1970s and 1980s called Nofsu Vojt u Nofsu Mimli, as well as comedic sketches on television, so we have quite a history,” Cassar Darien says.
Fast-forward a couple of decades and Ciappara was quickly taken by her old friend’s new story and was eager to develop it into a theatre piece. And although the story itself tells of Ġanni’s solo journey, Ciappara moved away from the idea of a one-man show because she felt it would detract from the unique possibilities for spectacle (such as vibrant scenes of Strait Street in its heyday).
So Cassar Darien worked on various rewrites. The result is a large-scale stage show with a 40-strong cast and crew.
“I always saw this as a theatrical piece,” says Cassar Darrien. “The book is styled as a one-man effort, which makes the narrative flow easily to the readers. Now, though, I am glad to see the spectacle aspect coming together – Strada Stretta will be experienced by all the senses.”
The staging also involves large projections of never-before-seen footage of Valletta on constantly-moving screens, promising the audience an exciting and unique look at life back then.
“The combination of Ciappara’s staging, Pierre Portelli’s designs, Paul Abela’s music choices and Alison White’s choreography have given the show the combined aura of a silent movie and a Broadway musical,” Cassar Darien concludes.
Il-Kennies tal-Ġenna shows at Pjazza Tearu Rjal on September 27 and 28.